An air conditioner in which at least one outdoor unit and at least one indoor unit are mutually coupled by plural refrigerant pipes has been suggested. In the case where a temperature of an outdoor heat exchanger becomes equal to or less than 0° C. when this air conditioner performs a heating operation, the outdoor heat exchanger may be frosted. When the outdoor heat exchanger is frosted, ventilation to the outdoor heat exchanger is inhibited by the frost, and thus heat exchange efficiency in the outdoor heat exchanger may be degraded. Thus, when frosting occurs to the outdoor heat exchanger, a defrosting operation has to be performed to defrost the outdoor heat exchanger.
For example, in an air conditioner described in Patent Literature 1, an outdoor unit that includes a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, and an outdoor fan is coupled to two indoor units, each of which includes an indoor heat exchanger, an indoor expansion valve, and an indoor fan, via a gas refrigerant pipe and a liquid refrigerant pipe. In the case where, in this air conditioner, a defrosting operation is performed during a heating operation, the rotation of the outdoor fan and the rotation of the indoor fan are stopped. In conjunction with this, the compressor is stopped once, the four-way valve is switched such that the outdoor heat exchanger is shifted from a state of functioning as an evaporator to a state of functioning as a condenser, and the compressor is activated again. When the outdoor heat exchanger functions as the condenser, a high-temperature refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows into the outdoor heat exchanger and melts frost formed on the outdoor heat exchanger. Thus, the outdoor heat exchanger can be defrosted.